A “professional thief” has been banned from Fife after travelling from Glasgow to shoplift.
Lisa Christie, also known as Lisa Connelly, targeted the Debenhams store in Dunfermline twice within a month, stealing perfume worth almost £900.
She got away with it on the first occasion but was caught red-handed when she tried again.
She claimed she had travelled to Fife to buy equipment for a pub she was running at the time but has convictions for similar thieving throughout Scotland.
Connelly, 37, of Old Rutherglen Road, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
She previously admitted that on August 12 at Debenhams, Kingsgate Centre, she stole a quantity of fragrances.
She also admitted committing the same offence there on August 29.
Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf said on the first occasion Christie had stolen five bottles of perfume worth £553 and there was no recovery.
However, she was caught by security staff when she returned just over a fortnight later and tried to steal items worth £340.
Defence solicitor Stephen Morrison said: “She’s been battling binge drinking and cocaine misuse.
“Her motivation was to sell the items to raise money for alcohol and drugs.”
He claimed his client had “a good work ethic” even though she is currently unemployed.
Sheriff James MacDonald previously observed that Connelly had made her way around the country shoplifting, with convictions at Hamilton, Paisley, Ayr and Glasgow.
He told her that she could be regarded as “a professional thief”.
Sheriff MacDonald said the store involved was already a “hot spot” for shoplifting and it was perhaps time to start simply jailing those caught as a deterrent.
However, on this occasion he decided to impose a community payback order with 210 hours of unpaid work and 12 months of supervision. Another condition of the order bans Connelly from entering Fife.
